All of you reading this? You’re amazing. So are a bunch of people who never see my words on screen or page.  I pass through life surrounded by incredible, passionate, enthusiastic, wonderful people. Even more amazing?  Some of these people call me friend and mean it.

For any number of boring reasons, this is a phenomenon I will never quite trust, never quite believe in. Unconditional acceptance is an emotional one-way street in the map of my mind. Other people are wonderful, and I love them because of their flaws and mistakes and in their entirety.  What never developed is the part where that idea applies to me.

But that problem is on me, no one else. The inability to believe there is no why in love, no balance sheet for friendship–that shouldn’t stop me from marveling at the results. And when someone who has every reason to be furious with me makes a special effort to reach…